I spotted an (insert obscure car name here) classic car today! (Archived)

uplanderguy

Surely doesn't take much to get a comment removed here, sheesh.

Unrelated to that, thinking today of all who made the sacrifice only 14 years before I was born, on D-Day.

fintail

I think the hosts might want things too off-course to go to the "cars and conversations" topic.

We need more pics of that pretty blue obscure Studebaker

uplanderguy

I can't stand that "Cars and Conversations" topic, LOL.

Talk about "anything goes"! Every time I look there it seems like there are 100 new, completely unrelated-to-anything posts.

I had a pretty benign joke about Arnold Palmer getting his Eldorado washed, removed.

uplanderguy

I am still loving my new Studebaker, BTW. Filled it with 90-octane, zero-Ethanol gas in the next town over the other day, finally getting rid of the two-year-old gas I was told was in it.

I've put 101 miles on it so far. It is indeed the car I was told it was.

fintail

It's funny. I read that Arnold Palmer joke by the time I was 12 years old

I don't think we can get gas like that here, but my car always gets premium anyway. MBs can run on unleaded with no valve issues. I know you aren't into the tech, but you should see about making a driving video of it, people on youtube love that stuff. I assume it drives tight, to correspond to the mileage.

stickguy

A few years ago I stopped at a kangaroo station in South Carolina. Normal place on the edge of a strip mall, in a nice area. The had a pump for racing fuel. Might have been 100 octane? I do recall it was really expensive though!

Mr_Shiftright

Here's a CRX for sale. Don't see these much anymore.

stickguy

Nice looking one. I loved those back in the day. Would not mind having it, but not at that price. Not all that far from me either.

Is that realistic market value?

Mr_Shiftright

I don't think so, no. I'd be very surprised if he even got a phone call. It could sell at around $5000 if it were super nice. Even then, that would be a home run price.

ab348

I think that CRX may be overpriced - but ones that are unmodified and in good condition are almost nonexistent in the Northeast. The miles on that one concern me and the interior is a little tired, but it is better than about 98% of the few I ever see. Someone who has the hots for one might jump at it.

stickguy

Yeah, most of those around here are either crapped out, heavily modded, or both. If that was at $3,500 I would buy it, use as spare car for a bit, then keep next 20 years as a toy and fix up as a hobby

fintail

I'd worry about rust on that CRX too, given its age, location, and mileage.

Out for a morning walk, spotted a W140 with misplaced emblems, including V12 emblems. I know incorrect badge placement irks many, myself included. I suspect it was a real V12 car though, as it had the right grille, and xenons (a big deal in 1997). Also saw an early 90s 300TE 4Matic, neglected looking. As the early 4Matics had high failure rates for the transmission, I bet it has had one already.

texases

Wonder if it comes with the battery charger...

Fun car, but I'd rather get a replacement for my '83 GTI. If I was going for that kind of car, that is.

uplanderguy

fin, the car does drive tight. It has a rattle or two but is quite solid. It drives great, plenty of pep and tight steering. My friend who checked the car out for me had pointed out some small things that substantiate the mileage, and I'd agree...one being the secondary latch on the driver's door jamb, which is still body-color and which often breaks. In fact, that's one of the first things the vendor Studebaker International reproduced.

I looked at another '66 Cruiser out at the international meet in South Bend last month and the secondary latch on the driver's door was gone.

Not related to the topic at hand but my daughter's Cobalt was totalled on May 27 by a guy who not only failed to yield but stopped to say "I'm sorry", then proceeded to leave the scene without giving any information. Astonishingly, a Good Samaritan followed him (!) and he returned. My daughter has a fractured wrist on her right, which is her dominant side; this, after being home only four days from college. So her summer is stinking so far.

I'm looking at a '15 Cruze LS with 31K miles at the Chevy dealer down the road. It has 5K miles left on its 3/36 warranty, and quite a bit left on its 5/100K powertrain warranty (which in the '16 model year was reduced to 60K to match most everybody else's). Chevy's warranties transfer free to subsequent owners. The Carfax shows it wasn't put into service until 9/28/15, and the dealer's service writer whom I know verified that in his records. So that maximizes the calendar-side of the warranties. Carfax shows four oil changes. I think the non-turbo, bigger displacement is probably a better choice in the porky first-gen Cruze, although I hate that it has a timing belt, unlike the 1.4 turbo.

Asking $10.7K.

uplanderguy

Lowered to $10.5K on their site. Looking at "Certified" at other dealers looks to add about $2K to the price--too much for cheap me, LOL.

imidazol97

Sorry to hear about your daughter's injuries and your loss of the Cobalt. Mine is getting a brake job by me with new ACDelco pads, rotors, and maybe calipers. I'll try to rebuild the calipers if the bleeder can be opened.

As for the Cruze, because of the 5/100 powertrain warranty, the GMEP warranty extensions that I prices from Black Cadillac by phone were reasonable. So our Cruze is protected with $0 warranty coverage for quite a while yet--especially if my son decides to buy something else after he's married, and I trade it back from him. He's been putting miles on it relatively fast. The b-2-b (GMPP) worked well on my Cobalt with lots of work done before expiration with steering shaft wear and front end parts wear. New struts even.

uplanderguy

Thanks, imidazol.

I was lucky with both our Cobalts. I'm still surprised at how little (virtually zero) road/tire noise both had. Even my new Cruze has road noise. I've looked at Cruze forums and have seen guys say their first-gen Cruzes are quieter than their '12 Honda Accord (one guy, anyway). I guess if Hondas can have road noise, the other manufacturers think they can too, sigh.

I have never once bought an extended warranty on anything--including a car--in my life. Maybe I'm riding on borrowed time.

Mr_Shiftright

I think this is .....well....tell me what you think:

http://www.oldride.com/classic_cars/815450.html

stickguy

well, that is interesting. and not in a positive way. Is that trunk area a PU bed?

Keep the mechanical and suspension stuff, with stock bodywork and a more tasteful interior, and could have a nice restomod.

explorerx4

Was that car designed for the Munster's?

fintail

On the road today: old couple in a grey-brown W126 300SD, white 70s Camaro Berlinetta, old guy in an early 70s 911 I see once a week or so.

fintail

Part of the fun is hunting down those rattles. I had an insanely annoying one in the radio area of the fintail. Took me a while to get it taken care of, but it is gone now. I suspect the old exhaust on your car was a good mileage indicator too - I think exhaust systems rusted a lot faster back then.

Too bad about your daughter and car, but at least the injury is relatively minor. Remember, asking prices are just a starting point You guys are very good to your kids to be able to help as you do, as you can - not everyone is so fortunate. No doubt it is worth it to you.

uplanderguy said:

fin, the car does drive tight. It has a rattle or two but is quite solid. It drives great, plenty of pep and tight steering. My friend who checked the car out for me had pointed out some small things that substantiate the mileage, and I'd agree...one being the secondary latch on the driver's door jamb, which is still body-color and which often breaks. In fact, that's one of the first things the vendor Studebaker International reproduced.
although I hate that it has a timing belt, unlike the 1.4 turbo.

Asking $10.7K.

uplanderguy

Thanks. We can, so we do what we can to not saddle our kids with a bunch of debt right out of college. Notice that we're looking at used, though.

sda

Then only fun in tracking a rattle or squeak is if you're able to find and fix it. Otherwise, Grrr.

Mr_Shiftright

Back in the old days, said he, leaning back in his chair while the young 'uns gather round---"back in the old days, dealerships had a dedicated 'squeaks and rattles man"---that's mostly what he did, track down noises. He was generally a junior mechanic or a trainee.

fintail

I felt a bit of satisfaction when I monkeyed around under the fintail's dash, tracked down the area of the noise, and was able to cure it. Now if it comes back. I will lose some sanity I can't spare

Even a late model used car is more than a lot of kids are able to drive. I drove the fintail when I was in school (20 years ago), thank heavens there were no real incidents.

uplanderguy

For good or bad, late-model Chevys are cheaper to buy than a lot of other stuff. But, I know what you mean.

stickguy

My son had the well used TL at college. Thankfully the only issues he had that led to dead car happened while there, not in transit. He was only about 240 miles away.

The daughter though has a new car because of a 450 mile each way drive through some nasty roads. I had enough of trying to get old cars repaired long distance. And had no interest in getting a call that the old Volvo broke down on the side of I95 in Richmond, with the princess traveling alone!

PF_Flyer

Mr_Shiftright said:

Back in the old days, said he, leaning back in his chair while the young 'uns gather round---"back in the old days, dealerships had a dedicated 'squeaks and rattles man"---that's mostly what he did, track down noises. He was generally a junior mechanic or a trainee.

Someone with the stamina to complete the chase?

uplanderguy

I'd say in the 'old days', you'd get more interior/dashboard noises, but fewer things like front-end noises.

texases

PF_Flyer said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

Back in the old days, said he, leaning back in his chair while the young 'uns gather round---"back in the old days, dealerships had a dedicated 'squeaks and rattles man"---that's mostly what he did, track down noises. He was generally a junior mechanic or a trainee.

Someone with the stamina to complete the chase?

More like 'low man on the totem pole'...

stickguy

Cars now are overall so much quieter, some small noises stick out, that you may never have heard in the old days.

uplanderguy

I'm afraid I disagree, stickguy. I think road noise, for one, is much-more pronounced than forty years ago. I also think soundproofing has been removed in the name of reducing weight.

I remember thinking my friends' parents new '77 Caprice Classic was absolutely the quietest car I'd ever been in. I remember the brochure saying "You'll find it hard to believe a moving car could be so quiet", and I agreed. I mean, absolutely silent and engine noise very muffled.

roadburner

uplanderguy said:

I'm afraid I disagree, stickguy. I think road noise, for one, is much-more pronounced than forty years ago. I also think soundproofing has been removed in the name of reducing weight.

I remember thinking my friends' parents new '77 Caprice Classic was absolutely the quietest car I'd ever been in. I remember the brochure saying "You'll find it hard to believe a moving car could be so quiet", and I agreed. I mean, absolutely silent and engine noise very muffled.

That's because the SBC from that era was making around 145 ground-shaking horsepower. My dad had a 1978 and a 1981. They weren't bad cars-they even had acceptable handling if you ordered the F41 suspension-but they were miserably slow.

fintail

I suspect old cars from a certain era had pretty good road noise levels. Soft suspensions, un-stressed large engines, and tall sidewalls made for smooth rides. Likely better overall highway conditions of that era helped as well. Not the best for handling, but a serene ride.

explorerx4

Those squeak and rattle guy were the young ones because they still had their hearing.
I think one reason older cars seemed quieter is because a lot of the noise was further away from you.

uplanderguy

I'm pretty sure the 350 in '77 had 170 hp. The 305 2-barrel did indeed have 145.

uplanderguy

I can honestly say it's been decades since I've been in a car that's virtually silent, and that would've been a full-size V8 RWD GM of the '80's probably.

ab348

Body-on-frame cars can be much quieter than unit-body cars with comparable levels of soundproofing. Road noise is the bugaboo in unibodies. My old Cutlass just thumps softly across expansion joints and you hear virtually zero tire noise. But even it is not as quiet as my old '79 Park Avenue which was like a living room on wheels.

uplanderguy

In my memory, the peak of quiet in cars, GM cars anyway, was the downsized full-size cars, '77 and later.

tjc78

uplanderguy said:

I can honestly say it's been decades since I've been in a car that's virtually silent, and that would've been a full-size V8 RWD GM of the '80's probably.

My 2012 LaCrosse and now my current 2015 Enclave are virtually dead silent riding on Michelin tires.  Even my wife noticed how much quieter the Enclave is than the Elantra.  

I would venture to say they are both quieter than anything from the 80s.  I've driven the big Buicks from the time and owned two 89 Panthers too.  

Hondas typically are pretty heavy on the road noise, and I rode in a 2014 Passat V6 today that was on par with my  Elantra which kind of surprised me.  

Mr_Shiftright

On many modern cars, especially hatches, you get road noise through the rear wheel wells.

Yes, the squeaks and rattles man was usually low man on the totem pole, or a lot boy looking to work his way up.

One chronic squeaker was the early Mustang--the ball joints.

kyfdx

Spotted a survivor Nissan 200SX from .... the eighties?

Mr_Shiftright

1995 I think.

explorerx4

Maybe there is a car show tonight. In a short period of time I saw a 52/54 Mercury coupe light blue with white top, then a dark gold with black vinyl roof GS455, red Mark IV, red Porsche 914 and maroonish Dodge Rampage.

kyfdx

Mr_Shiftright said:

1995 I think.

You might be right. Didn't realize they made the 200SX again, after they made the 240SX.

ab348

Nice day here today and lots of convertibles out with their tops down. Up ahead of me I noticed a Boxster S in the right lane. I also noticed quite a bit of blue oil smoke being exhausted. When I was growing up it wasn't uncommon to see older cars spewing blue smoke but these days it is quite unusual and even more so with a car like that. Pulling up to a red light in the left lane next to it I could see it was being driven by a well dressed, well groomed 40-something guy in business clothes. Looked like the kind of guy who could afford a Porsche. Weird to see all that oil smoke.

texases

Mr_Shiftright said:

On many modern cars, especially hatches, you get road noise through the rear wheel wells.

Yes, the squeaks and rattles man was usually low man on the totem pole, or a lot boy looking to work his way up.

One chronic squeaker was the early Mustang--the ball joints.

We worked on squeaky Fords at the gas station, the upper control arm pivots were terrible, and inaccessible. A few had access holes torched in the fender wells to gain access and install zero fittings. 

sda

uplanderguy said:

In my memory, the peak of quiet in cars, GM cars anyway, was the downsized full-size cars, '77 and later.

I remember dad's '78 DeVille d'Elegance and mom's '78 98 Regency being very quiet cars. About the only sound heard was a distant and quiet moan from the engine under hard acceleration. That was when the speed limit was 55 and we rarely drove above 60. I wonder how quiet those cars would be at 70-80, typical speeds of today. With the blocky body style and large door gaps as compared to current cars I bet wind noise would become obtrusive at higher speeds.

stickguy

well, one thing is obvious. You people had vastly different types of car than I did (or my family).